FCC Votes to Grant OneWeb Market Access to the United States

June 22, 2017 – Today, the FCC unanimously voted in favor of granting OneWeb market access to the US, making OneWeb the first satellite constellation of its kind to receive approval from the full commission.

OneWeb was founded in 2012 when it invented a unique capability to unlock and efficiently reuse spectrum under the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) rules known as "Article 22". The Article 22 rules were approved at the 1997 World Radiocommunication Conference with the hope that new technologies would eventually be developed which could meet these requirements and enable ubiquitous communications for remote and rural areas. Over the past 12 months OneWeb has been supplying system operation and design details to the FCC for international regulatory compliance requirements and to achieve a license to provide these services in the US.

Following today's vote by the FCC Commission, OneWeb Founder and Executive Chairman Greg Wyler said, "The FCC’s decision today, to grant market access to OneWeb, is an important step in helping to bring much needed low latency broadband access to Americans living in remote and hard to serve areas. OneWeb was founded with the mission to bridge the global digital divide and will begin services in Alaska as early as 2019. OneWeb’s affordable ubiquitous broadband infrastructure will enable our Solution Partner ISP’s to create new opportunities for rural America in healthcare, education and business, leading to a more digitally inclusive society. The FCC vote, by the full commission, is important as it is the first of its kind for satellite systems like OneWeb and we are appreciative of their shared efforts and vision to make affordable internet access available for everyone."

OneWeb’s mission is to enable affordable Internet access for everyone, to connect all the unconnected schools of the world, and to fully bridge the digital divide by 2027. OneWeb is building a communications network, with a constellation of Low Earth Orbit satellites, that will provide connectivity to billions of people around the world. With more than 7 Tbps of new global capacity, OneWeb will extend the networks of mobile operators and ISPs to serve new coverage areas, bringing connectivity and voice and data communications to consumers, businesses, schools, healthcare institutions and other end users. www.oneweb.net